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Category Archives: Politics

Well that’s it then, if the ALP form government, and I expect they will, Queensland is stuffed. With Greens and the unions at the table our costs are going to skyrocket along with the debt.

How did it come to this. Unquestionably Newman came across as a decisive and firm leader and this was portrayed as arrogant but when you have to make calls that hurt some, then this will be the result. He should have better explained what he was doing and why. As in; “We have to cut the public service because it is way to big, so big in fact, that Bligh had to borrow money to pay wages. We can’t afford it. If we do this in conjunction with cutting Green tape, then in due course, business will expand and employment overall will improve.”

The anti- bikie laws got a lot of flack. They should never have been referred to as Anti-bikie because as soon as you do that the criminal gangs will produce a video of some rough head bikie cuddling a toy bear on the way to giving it to a poor little kid. Warm and cuddly images that ignore the fact that said bikie, more than likely, had attended a meeting the previous evening where income from drugs, prostitution and extortion were allocated to other criminals.

The laws as they stand should just have been strengthened and sold as anti crime-gang laws. If consorting is no longer in vogue in today’s Everyone’s innocent climate then just change the laws and tell the human rights lawyers to look up human responsibilities

Media.

It doesn’t matter whether we are working on improving the country or state. It doesn’t matter that were are fixing the economy because the media will just ignore it and find something of no import and make it the catch of the day.

The voters themselves don’t understand or even consider economics. The young ones vote for handouts and the older ones respond to the media telling them to hate Abbott or Newman and actually vote accordingly.

They read things like Abbott gave Phillip a Knighthood and that’s terrible and take offence. It doesn’t matter that Hawke gave Phillip Australia’s highest honour years ago and that Abbott was simply upgrading it as the awards system itself had been upgraded. It doesn’t matter that the other significant Commonwealth countries had awarded Phillip similar honours and that is simply protocol at that level. The Conservative hating media made it the catch of the day and when voters should’ve been thinking and talking about economics and who best to fix up Queensland’s near bankrupt economy, they were led astray and were talking about insignificant stuff that simply didn’t matter.

The LNP lost control of the debate.

Wayne Swan on ABC literally said “debt and deficits don’t matter!” and he is right. The man who took over as national Treasurer with $50b in the bank and successfully turned that into a $300b debt should know. He continues to act as if he did well as Treasurer and voters, with the memory of a lightning bolt, nod their heads and agree.

The ABC have given up all pretense of being unbiased. They simply campaign for the ALP and we do nothing about it. We conservatives are being flogged by the media and we appear to just accept it.

Fight back you bastards and do something about it. There is no reason for the government of the day to accept that a media arm that they fund, openly campaigns to get them outed from office.

Don’t be weak and roll over. Attack. Don’t be afraid of upsetting ABC watchers. They already hate you because the ABC tell them to. If you do force the ABC to employ a centre-right commentator for every centre-left employed then who knows, their viewing audience might improve.

In Queensland we are in for a rough ride. The ALP, led by a woman who doesn’t even know what the GST rate is, who has a stated plan to pay back Anna Bligh’s debt in 63 years looks like falling over the line and forming government. She will be obliged to reemploy all the public servants that have lost their jobs, give the unions back their business destroying power and considering she will have won by Greens preferences, will have to dance to their tune as well.

Look forward to the slow down of development and the associated jobs and income and increased cost for services as the unions get their payback.

It appears all and sundry expect the LNP to get a flogging in tomorrows election. The ABC are banking on it and supporting the ALP while The Courier Mail says Labor presents a clear alternative for voters – job creation and no asset sales.

Amazing, in three short years everyone has supposedly forgotten the ALP’s last period of power where they left the state with tens of billions of dollars in debt and the biggest public service in the country whence they were obliged to borrow money to pay their wages.

Cambell gets the arrogant tag because he has to make the hard decisions and cut spending. True, he could’ve explained it more but really, what part of $80b debt don’t people understand.

Now Labor tell us they will pay down debt in a measured and achievable way, all while retaining ownership of our essential assets – power stations, distribution networks and ports.

An elected Labor government in Queensland would merge some power networks and retain all assets earmarked for sale under the Liberal National Party (LNP) to help pay down $12 billion worth of debt in a decade.

From The Australian

QUEENSLAND debt is forecast to be $76.97 billion this financial year, $1.16 billion less than outlined in the June budget. Despite the improvement, the level of debt is on average twice that of other states and equates to about $15,000 for each person.

So the ALP plan is to pay back the debt of the Bligh government in 63 years.

It’s a plan but not a good one and keep in mind the author is Annastacia Palaszczuk who doesn’t even know the current GST rate

The previous ALP government sold;

Retail arms of Ergon and Energex,

Suncorp,

Qld TAB,

Dalrymple Bay,

Golden Casket,

Cairns, Mackay and Brisbane Airport,

Port of Brisbane, and Qld Rail.

but that’s OK because…

They sold all those assets and still left a IOU note in the empty treasury for $80b.

Left with this huge debt Newman plans to sell of assets to help pay it back and suddenly it’s not OK because….

One of the intellectual giants of the Australian Labor Party, the former Whitlam and Hawke minister Tom Uren, has died aged 93.

With Tom Uren we see a leviathan of the labour movement passing

Known as the “conscience of the Labor party” because of his principled stands on issues, Mr Uren was a leading figure in the Left faction, and one of the most respected Labor politicians of his generation.

Such accolades! It’s true he gave honest service during WW2 and did a lot for ex PWs during his lifetime. Unfortunately his principled stands on issues led to an association with Jim Cairns, whom he “loved”, thus spending years supporting the Viet Cong both financially and morally.

He was also a staunch supporter of the anti-nuclear movement that demanded unilateral disarmament of the US that was supported and funded by the Soviets.

Before you dump on Tony Abbot for awarding Prince Phillip a Knighthood look up Duke of Edinburgh Awards for young people.

The Duke has done more for young Australians, and youth all over the world, than have most of the Abbott haters currently mocking the man and the Knighthood.

Ignorant peasants, the lot of them.

Besides being a well earned Knighthood it annoys the hell out of the Left and the Media. His politically incorrect comments are legend and never fail to amuse me and wind up the haters.

Good call all round, I think.

UPDATE: A comment from Sabena at Catalaxy Files;

The Duke of Edinburgh was given an AC when it was Australia’s highest honour-now he has been upgraded given that AK is now the highest honour.Where was the criticism of him being given the AC?Oh wait-it was in 1988 and given to him by the Hawke government.

“She was a very good Queensland premier. So if she can come and attend I’d be more than happy to have her there.”

I remember what she did during the floods. She fronted the media and behaved like a Premier, the only time during her reign when she did. Otherwise she spent like a drunken sailor and took the state to unprecedented deficits. Campbell Newman is still trying to pay off the debt.

But, she performed well on a couple of occasions and for that, Palaszczuk claims she was a good Premier.

To add to that insanity people are seriously considering voting for them again mainly because Newman has had to do they hard yards to try and fix the financial hole left to him by Anna Bligh et al and theyrefuse to recognizethat we can’t spend more that we earn.

FORMER Whitlam government attorney-general Kep Enderby named his son Keir after the Scottish Labour Party founder James Keir Hardie.

“I’m surprised I wasn’t named Che or Fidel or Lenin or Karl or even Marx, but that may give you a picture of my dad’s passion for equality and fairness to all,” Keir Enderby said yesterday at his father’s funeral in Sydney.

Equality and fairness to all in the same sentence as Che or Fidel or Lenin or Karl or even Marx tells you all you want to know about the man and the Whitlam government.

Commo bastards.

Enderby, who died last week aged 88, is credited with passing no-fault divorce legislation, setting up the Family Court and legalising homosexuality in the ACT. Those remembering him yesterday included Whitlam minister Les Johnson, Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan, Labor elder John Faulkner and federal deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek.

Keir Enderby said his father was “a thinker, a believer and a dreamer”. He quoted Che Guevara: “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.” Keir wondered if that was why his ­father planted so many trees.

He was a fighter for causes: befriending conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War and defending the Aboriginal tent embassy in front of Old Government House. He backed David Hicks and Julian Assange.

About all I have in common with Enderby is that we are both fathers.

Keir Enderby said he hoped his father had now joined other revolutionaries: “Hopefully they are comparing notes, having a drink, and shaking their heads at the state of Australian affairs.”

When they compared notes would they ask each other “How many people did you murder and then argue over the countless millions that died because of their communist insanity?

OPPOSITION Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk will have the backing of exiled bikies across Queensland when she goes to the polls this year.

Labor’s pledge to repeal and replace the controversial anti-bikie laws is likely to score her thousands of votes from not only disgruntled motorcycle gang members but also their families, associates and even charities that benefited from their fundraising, bikie chiefs say.

“We just want to be treated like a sporting club. We are a sporting club. We’ll go along with anyone – Labor, Katter, whoever will listen rather than treat us like criminals.”

NORTHERN cattle producers and exporters have launched a class action against the commonwealth, challenging the “reckless’’ decision by the Gillard government in 2011 to ban live animal exports to Indonesia.

Northern Territory cattle producers Dougal and Emily Brett who run Waterloo Station, about 540km from Katherine, are the lead applicants. The couple had cattle worth about $1.4 million in their yards ready to be exported to Indonesia when trade was halted. The ban up-ended their lives and their industry.

The ban up-ended the lives of thousands of people and the industry and represents one of the worst decisions ever made by the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd debacle. I was travelling through North West Western Australia and the Northern Territory shortly after the shock announcement and the hatred against the government was palpable.

Ludwig, the minister who closed down the industry, will never be welcomed west of Brisbane yet I notice he is still a Queensland Senator. It’s a pity he can’t be held financially responsible for the decision but unfortunately, any costs awarded will just taken out of federal revenue and only people who remember will apportion the costs, albeit only in their mind, against the costs of electing an ALP government.

Australia never really recovered from the Whitlam experiment and now we have billions to sort out from the most recent ALP experiment.

Gough Whitlam, the 21st Australian prime minister, passed away earlier this morning. He served as PM between 1972 and 1975 before being sacked by the Governor-General and subsequently, by the electorate, at the 1975 general election.

As a young Infantry Sergeant I was called before my Officer Commanding and formally asked if I would continue to serve without pay in the event that Fraser maintained his attempt to rid Australia of Whitlam and his decaying government and supply dried up.

I answered in the affirmative recognizing the country needed to stave off bankruptcy and only suggested if the stalemate continued then the Army needed a plan to feed my wife and child.

I have dreaded this day, not so much because of the man’s demise, but more because we now have to endure weeks of canonization by the media of a man who, at best, we can say, his road to hell was paved with good intentions.

The Left, and those who either ignore facts or make them up, will be working overtime to give him credit where none is due and to wash over his errors.

And they start;

He was good for women

Tanya Plibersek:

Gough’s reforms for women were landmark. They included the election of the first Labor woman to the House of Representatives, Joan Child, in 1974.

She means other than Dame Enid Lyons who was elected to the House in the early 40s.

He cut Tariffs

Sure did. Tim Colebatch explains;

John Stone, deputy secretary of Treasury at the time, wrote recently that the committee’s existence was kept secret even from Treasury. Stone wrote a memo endorsing lower tariffs as a goal, but arguing that an indiscriminate cut would leave excessively protected sectors unharmed, but close more vulnerable plants.

And sure enough;

A year later, after the tariff cuts, import volumes jumped by a third, and the current account deficit was here to stay. Manufacturing lost 138,000 jobs in two years, and high unemployment became entrenched. The tariff cuts were only one factor in all this, but they symbolised the defects in Whitlam’s “crash through or crash” style of decision-making.

He instituted free Uni education.

Sure did and those who gained by that move have reason to be complimentary to Gough but in life there are no free dinners and someone had to pay. The taxpayer paid and in due course Hawke adjusted the scheme and brought in costs to students.

He brought the troops home from Vietnam.

No he didn’t. All he did was bring home the few Training Team guys still left in country. 1 ATF had been withdrawn by the McMahon government before Whitlam cam to power.

From Wikipedia;

On 18 August 1971, Australia and New Zealand decided to withdraw their troops from Vietnam, with the Australian prime minister, William McMahon, announcing that 1 ATF would cease operations in October, commencing a phased withdrawal.

I’ve almost given up correcting Whitlam lovers on this one but as they maintain the rage, I will maintain telling them the truth.

Financial management.

As mentioned above, his road to hell was paved with good intentions, but, like the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd government the great programs were never placed against the balance sheet to see if we could afford them.

We couldn’t.

In this graph from Catallaxy file Professor Sinclair says, Australia never recovered from the Whitlam era. I might add Whitlam tried to fund his grandiose schemes but did so by trying to borrow money from the Arabs. The Khemlani Affair put the icing on the cake as it became apparent to all that they were out of control. It gave Fraser the impetus to deny supply that ended in Whitlam’s dismissal

Whitlam opened up dialogue with China.

Yep. he sure did. He visited China as Opposition leader in June of 1971 and whereas establishing diplomatic relations with China had to be considered, I would have preferred he wait until our troops had been withdrawn or otherwise recovered from, or died of their wounds. Troops were still in Vietnam (4RAR left in October 1971) and while our troops were being killed or wounded by the VC or North Vietnamese, these communist soldiers were just aiming the rifles. China was busy making the AK 47s and loading the magazines and for the years from 1972 thru to 1975, they rearmed North Vietnam, in partnership with the USSR, to enable the 1975 invasion.

I took it that Whitlam favoured the Chinese communists over the sacrifice of the Diggers and while he later had Jim Cairns as his deputy I can understand why. If Whitlam was iffy, Jim Cairns was an out and out communist and did all he could to assist the communists to win the war.

I thought recognition was a bit early – wait until my mate’s bodies are cold in their grave, I thought at the time.

He instituted Multiculturalism.

Yep he did. With the exception that the South Vietnamese who fought his communist mates weren’t included in his version of multiculturalism. He is quoted as saying;

“I’m not having hundreds of fucking Vietnamese Balts coming into this country with their religious and political hatreds against us!”

If the Vietnamese hated anybody, other than the communists who were busy murdering and raping their countrymen, it could only be politicians who said such things. The religious Vietnamese he talks about were, on the main, Catholics with some Buddhists thrown in. The only reason he could hate them so is because they were fighting the communists.

As a further example of his political leanings he denied any reports of violations in communist SE Asia;

‘In September 1978, Whitlam addressed a conference in Canberra where he declared that he did not accept the validity of any of the reports about human rights violations in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos. He was particularly emphatic about Cambodia, declaring: “I make bold to doubt all the stories that appear in the newspapers about the treatment of people in Cambodia.”‘

He supported Jim Cairns until he had to sack him over treasury matters. He never sacked him while he was courting the communists.

When he was a senior Cabinet minister in the Whitlam Government, Cairns set out to use his high office to promote Soviet foreign policy aims. In 1973, when he was Minister for Overseas Trade and Secondary Industry, he sponsored a visit to Australia of representatives of communist North Vietnam. On April 26 — the day after Anzac Day — Cairns was photographed with his guests in the Sydney Town Hall, surrounded by Viet Cong flags and a huge picture of dictator Ho Chi Minh.

In 1974, official letterhead stationery of the Australian WPC described Cairns both as President of the Committee of World Peace Councillors in Australia and as Deputy Prime Minister. One such letter, dated 2 September 1974, advertised a visit to Australia later that month of a WPC delegation, headed by long-time KGB agent and WPC leader, Romesh Chandra.

It is worth remembering that Australia’s Constitution (section 44) clearly states: “Any person who … is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power … shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or member of the House of Representatives.” Cairns’s loyalties to a foreign power — and an enemy foreign power at that — should have automatically disqualified him from sitting as a member of parliament, let alone from becoming Deputy Prime Minister.

It is little wonder, then, that when Cairns became Deputy PM on 10 June 1974, the then US Ambassador to Australia, Marshall Green, warned Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of Washington’s alarm that Cairns might have access to classified information on US bases in Australia. Whitlam assured Green that Cairns had not asked about the functions of the US bases and would not be briefed on the matter.

I never looked up to him, always thought he and I were on different sides but he certainly caused a lot of debate and even though he could never fund his grandiose ideas he did at least have them. It wasn’t an untimely death but I dread the media over the period between now and his state funeral and will stay away from the ABC lest I throw something at my expensive TV in frustration at the lies that are about to wash over us.